Another week has gone...

Thought I would share some things from my past week.

Computers, Internet and stuff....

My wife was going to throw out a whole heap of old National Geographic magazines that were hanging around the Church. Being the hoarder that I am I declared that they would make great bed time reading so they are now in a pile by my bed. I was reading the October 1982 issue. There is an article there entitled "The Chip - electronic mini-marvel that is changing your life." It is so interesting reading the article from the 2010 perspective. Here are some gems from it.

"... a silicon flake a quarter of an inch on a side can hold a million electronic components, ten times more than 30-ton ENIAC, the world's first electronic digital computer. ENIAC was dedicated in 1946, the ancestor of today's computers that calculate and store information, using memory and logic chips. But ENIAC's most spectacular successor is the microprocessor - a 'computer on a chip.' This prodigy is 30,000 times as cheap as ENIAC, draws the power of a night-light instead of a hundred lighthouses, and in some versions performs a million calculations a second, 200 times as many as ENIAC ever could."

"The chip's condensed brainpower nourishes another phenomenon - personal computers. Last year more than 800,000 were sold, ..... the chip makes them increasingly easy to use."

"Piggybacking on personal computers are dozens of new services. Exotic now, computer conveniences such as electronic mail and newspapers and home banking and shopping could in time become as universal as telephone service."

"...a great computer, ILLIAC IV, which cost NASA 30 million dollars in 1972, .... ILLIAC could perform millions of aerospace calculations per second - and simultaneously. But it consumed enough power to light a small city and needed a maintenance crew of 20"

Compare these 1982 statements with today's world. I am not sure of all the amazing electronic advances since then, but the world has changed profoundly.

I am sitting here in my home office typing on my new "Macbook pro" laptop. I have two old PC's sitting here yet to be sorted out. I am listening to a sixties music CD I purchased today being played on an old laptop set up with good speakers as an office sound system. I had a brief chat via skype with a friend who lives about 15 k away. I read as I turned on my Mac that Apple had sold 2 million ipads in less than 60 days........ compare that with 800,000 personal computers in 1982! I am a relatively old man not very much tuned into the world of the Internet and technology, but look at the incredible advances and changes since 1946! Then look at the mind blowing changes in this whole area since 1982! In one of my chaplaincy sites the IT people tell me there are 350 computers in the building! (About one for every employee) I was blown away by an incident that happened to me last year. Out of the blue a stranger, a young man from the United Arab Emerites Skyped me. He was a Muslim, and we had several sessions talking about our respective countries and cultures. Then he encountered a problem in his life with the death of his grandmother who he was looking after. He came on line and told me about it and asked my advice about some stuff. How weird is that? Here I am a NZ christian minister and I am listening to, supporting and guiding a grieving Muslim young man living around the other side of the world?? But that is the nature of today's technology. I just find the rate of change to be amazing.

A beautiful event...

If you are a regular reader you would know that my friend Terry, who came to our drop-in centre, committed suicide a few weeks ago. On Friday evening Terry's brother with his wife and young son came to our drop-in with extra funeral service sheets for those who wanted them, a plate full of delicious food and a large cake. It was a privilege to show them where Terry had shared so many Friday evenings with friends and so nice to see drop-in centre people going up to him, expressing sympathy and chatting about their memories. Some of the drop-in folks taught Terry's young nephew how to play pool. It was a special gesture which made for a memorable night of friendship. Even in the dark times, good emerges.

Brother's birthday dinner...

One of my brothers turned 60 in May. His daughter and wife organised a surprise birthday dinner for him yesterday, Queens Birthday weekend in NZ. Murray lives 235 kilometres of fairly windy road from where we live. The dinner was at 6 p.m. yesterday. I had to be back in Dunedin to lead a church service this morning, so we drove up yesterday afternoon, shared in the dinner with family and friends, then drove home again. I caught up on Murray and his wider family, another brother Stephen and my sister Katherine. It was a great evening and worth the late night driving. I used to annoy my mum because she thought I was not family orientated enough. I choose to see "family" as having very wide application, (All are my brothers and sisters) but I must admit there is something about shared memories, life time connections and shared journeys in a family that make spending time together special.

Running...

I am not getting as much running in as I want to but generally run Saturday, Sunday and Monday each week. It is nice now to run without a hurting hamstring and a painful knee. I enjoyed a run in the rain tonight.

Photo: My new toy... on my messy desk.